I was talking to a friend who I consider very beautifully devout. Her faith is sincere and fills every corner of her life with peace, love, and wisdom.
But she said to me, “Sometimes I just don’t know if I’m doing it right. I mean Jesus says wild stuff like about giving everything away and I’m like, am I saved at all?”
I feel the same way too.
Then this week another friend passed on a metaphor I found helpful. He said that in Christianity we’re used to picturing the kingdom of heaven as being like a box. If you’re outside the line, you’re outside the kingdom. And as soon as you step inside the line, you’re in and that’s good enough. But a more helpful analogy is a whirlpool in which people are continuously getting closer or further from God, and no matter how close you get you can always get closer. And he’s pleased with every little step toward him, no matter how far along the line you are.
I think it could all be summed up by this C.S. Lewis quote that says:
Every father is pleased at the baby’s first attempt to walk: no father would be satisfied with anything less than a firm, free, manly walk in a grown-up son. (C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity.)
We are always enough, but he knows how much more we can always be. And he is working to make us into that type of man or woman.
He says he will not stop until he has completed a beautiful work in you.
And I have a hunch he’s content doing that for eternity.
📷
Raw Spoon, 1-31-16
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